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The Sprint Cup Series season draws to a close, but not before we have

The Sprint Cup Series season draws to a close, but not before we have one more chance to sit down, enjoy a caffeinated beverage and figure out one more fantasy lineup together. Vlade Divac Lakers Jersey .Last week, we went racing at Phoenix. I loved Kevin Harvick with all my heart. He had not just won five of the last six Phoenix races but dominated most of them.Harvick had a decent enough day, finishing fourth for 45 points, sixth-best in the field. But he didnt lead a lap.Another driver led more than half of the race, but it was maybe not whom you expected. Alex Bowman, driving in place of the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr., led 194 laps from the pole and added a race-high 58 fastest laps for 110.5 points, 38 more than any other driver.The kicker is Bowman only cost $6,900, and he has the most points of any sub-$7,000 driver this season by far. The second-best day from a DFS option that cheap was Ricky Stenhouse Jr.s run from 25th to second at Bristol.Bowman was my top bargain-basement special of the weekend. Not that Im patting myself on the back, but sometimes I like to give myself a little affirmation.Anyway, weve got one race to go, and its at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Its another 1.5-mile track, the 11th such race this season. Its not a copy of Texas or Charlotte, but your basic principles that lead to success at those tracks hold true.Another plot twist is this is the season finale, and four drivers will be competing for a championship, with the highest finisher among the four taking the title. This is only the third year with this championship format. How has it affected things in the past?In 2014, three of the four drivers going for the championship finished among the top-four fantasy plays. But it was Jeff Gordon, from the pole, who put up a race-best 104.75 points.Last year, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick finished second and fourth as Chase drivers, but both of them were looking up at Kyle Larson, who didnt lead much but drove from 23rd to fifth.None of the drivers had a poor race either, which could make one or two of them excellent fantasy plays this weekend.For more, heres my early-week fantasy picks to get you started at Homestead. But check back after qualifying for my final picks and fades.Im starting my team with...Given that we only run at this track once a year, and even then its under some unusual circumstances as the season finale, its tough to weigh past track performance and the recent showings on similar tracks. But I think the driver whos best weaving those two tapestries together is Joey Logano.In the last 1.5-mile race, Logano led 178 laps and finished second at Texas. Hes had a top-three finish in three of the last four such races. Meanwhile, at Homestead, Logano led 72 laps and finished fourth last year in this race, for 65.5 DraftKings points.Keep an eye on these fourJimmie Johnson: This is a rare track, where Johnson has never won, but in his championship seasons he never really came to the season finale needing to win to clinch a title. Im more interested in the fact that in the four 1.5-mile track races since the start of the Chase, Johnson has twice topped 100 laps led.Carl Edwards: A third driver going for a championship, Edwards has cost less than $9,000 in the last two 1.5-mile track races, so he can fit more easily on your roster than Logano and Johnson. Edwards has won twice at Homestead, and in the last two 1.5-mile track races, he has put up more than 25 fastest laps, 35 laps led, and finished in the top two in both.Kasey Kahne: Four Chase races on 1.5-mile tracks, and its four top-10 finishes for Kahne. And in each of those races, Kahne moved up at least nine spots from his starting position, a combined +54 in those four races. That makes him, on average, the fourth-best fantasy driver.Ryan Newman: An odd little fantasy trend is that in the last six 1.5-mile track races, Newman has been part of the perfect lineup. He enters the weekend on a nine-race stretch of top-20 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks, with five top 10s in the last seven races. Hes not going to give you many laps led -- he has led one in the last 15 1.5-mile track races -- but he is a safe fantasy play.Thats all I have for you today. Check back again this weekend for my season finale. Wishing you a happy offseason filled with scrumptious holiday meals. Wilt Chamberlain Jersey . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Jamaal Wilkes Lakers Jersey . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. http://www.lakersteamofficial.com/Shaqu … rs-Jersey/ . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. AUSTIN, Texas -- Charlie Strong has a masters degree in education, but like any head coach with 35 years on his resume, he is an expert in chemistry. What gnawed at Strong during his first two years of trying to excavate Texas from the muck of mediocrity is that he had to go downstairs to the locker room to find his players.It wasnt the flight of stairs that bothered him. Strong, 56, awakens at 4 a.m. every morning to jog. He has the physical presence of a man 20 years younger. What bothered Strong was the players lounge, or as he calls it, the game room, right down the hall from his office.The lounge looked as if it belonged in a business titans vacation home. The lounge was a man cave of dark wood, cushy chairs, high-top tables and two big flat-screens hovering above eye level. In the middle sat a pool table with burnt orange felt. What the game room didnt have was bodies. It looked emptier than Perry-Castaneda Library on Saturday night.You walked in there, and it was always clean, Strong said. Youre like, God almighty! We dont even use this thing.If the Longhorns return to glory in their third season under Strong, it will be because the 30-man freshman class, with players like guard Patrick Hudson, receiver Devin Duvernay, and especially quarterback Shane Buechele, have the maturity to match their athletic skill. It will be because the players who sat home during last bowl season came back in January with the desire never to do that again.But dont forget about the pingpong table.The transition from Mack Brown to Strong was rocky, which explains why only three seniors are expected to start this season. The difference in attitude between Strongs first two teams and this one is stark.I dont have to say, Hey, listen, tomorrow Id like for some of you guys to be over (here), doing something, Strong said. They show up now. Players used to come over to the football building, get their snack and go back to their dorm room. Strong, the defensive coordinator on Floridas two most recent national championship teams, knew a lack of chemistry when he saw it.So in June, Strong began serving lunch to the players in the lounge. He also had the lounge upgraded, adding a pingpong table, a second pool table, a foosball table, an air hockey table and even an old-school arcade game. The change came almost overnight.The place is always packed, Strong said. Even in the afternoons, theyre in there. Theyre always in there. Theyre always in there. Theyre sitting around, and its such a big deal. Theyre interacting! Theyre shooting pool. Theyre waiting on a pool table. Hey, Coach! Im the best pingpong player EVER! OK, whatever. You cant beat so-and-so.When August practice began, that so-and-so might have been Buechele, undefeated at pingpong since the table arrived in June. Junior defensive end Naashon Hughes has been seen taking down Strong at the billiards table. Jabari Brown Jersey. The players lounge used to be a spot where people would go and take naps. People would go and relax, senior safety Dylan Haines said. And now weve added all these different games and stuff. It just provides more areas for competition for the players, and it gets us all in there and all involved with talking to one another.You see a team coming together, which we had never had happen before, Strong said.When players want to be in the football building, it means they want to be around football. That sounds simplistic to the point of idiocy. Until its missing. When senior offensive tackle Kent Perkins began taking his bench-press test this summer, his teammates gathered. As Perkins continued past 20 reps, past 30 reps of the 225-pound bar, his test became a team event.He was going for rep 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, defensive line coach Brick Haley said, and you could just feel the energy in the room. Everybody is into their teammate and not into themselves.You see guys doing extra where theyve never done it before, Strong said. Or you ask a guy to do something, and its not like, Why do we have to do that, Coach? Weve never done it before. You dont hear that now. If you walk over (to the football facility), theyll be watching video, or theyll be outside on the field throwing, just doing things theyve never done before.On Friday, Strong sat down for a Big 12 Digital Network interview. In the middle of it, defensive end Breckyn Hager burst into the room. Strong, with bemusement, halted the interview.I beat Shane! Hager said. Im the first one to beat Shane!You beat him? How bad?21-18.I will be down there, Strong said, unable to control his laughter. Why are you sweating?Cause Ive been trying. This means a lot to me! Hager said.Exit Hager. That was breaking news, Strong said, still laughing.For Texas to contend for its first Big 12 championship in seven years, the Longhorns will need the fortune of good health. They will need freshmen and sophomores to beat juniors and seniors.Strong is too smart to promise anything. He trusts improvement. Improve, and success will follow. Already he has seen attitudes improve. The Longhorns held their first scrimmage on Saturday. It was also their first day of two-a-days. When they returned to the field Saturday night, they retained the enthusiasm they brought to the scrimmage.Sometimes you feel like theres been a change, Strong said. You feel it, and you see it. Thats what you see now with the team. You see it.You see the Longhorns chemistry formed in the heat and grind of sweaty August competition. And thats just in the air-conditioned comfort of the players lounge, the room a few steps down the hall from the head coachs office.Max Olson contributed to this story. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '